I moved alone at the end of
February from Cape Town, South
Africa to High Level, Alberta, so
I could be a family physician in
Canada. A friend of mine used to
work here and told me good things
about the physicians here, and about
the need for doctors in Northern
Alberta.

Like anyone new to Alberta,
the biggest change for me was the
climate. Cape Town in the end of
February has temperatures around

30°C, in High Level the temperature
when I arrived was the total opposite
at around - 30°C.

It is funny because many
Canadians—and Albertans for that
matter—don’t even know where High
Level is, but several South African

Dr. PaulJordaanSame profession—half aworld away

doctors live here, making the social
aspect surprisingly the same as back
home. We learn together and work
as a great team together—it’s a big
group learning experience.

The practice of medicine here
has been an education because so
many more resources are available
to doctors. In South Africa, you are
limited in what you can do, but
here we can do almost anything,
from conducting blood tests to
prescribing different medications
that we just don’t have back home.

Learning what systems were
available for me to use was a big
change initially.

Living in a small town exposesyou to a lot of social issues as well—alcohol abuse and substance abuse—but I see nearly the same medicalissues here that I would see in SouthAfrica.

Living in High Level has been
fun. The biggest adjustment is that
you are far away from a city, and
there isn’t much to do other than
work, but luckily the work keeps
me busy.

It has been an interesting change,
and good to learn about new cultures
and;experience;new;people.;Up
here you get exposed to all kinds
of cultures, such as First Nations
and Mennonites. it has a lot to
take in all at once and it’s been a
very interesting and informative
adventure so far.

— As told to Landon WesleyDr. Paul Jordaan moved from South Africa to High Level, where he’s now a busy family physician.